The Secret Life of Words

The Secret Life of Words (2006)

  • 71% of critics liked it
    (38 reviews)

  • 86% of users liked it
    (6,937 ratings)

Writer-director Isabel Coixet's (My Life Without Me) beautifully wrought chamber drama The Secret Life of Words opens on Hanna (Sarah Polley), a laconic, backward and introverted girl in her early '30s, quietly drowning in her own isolation. Partially deaf from working an untold number of hours in a… More

Unrated, 1 hr. 52 min.
Directed By
Isabel Coixet
Written By
Isabel Coixet
Genres
Art House & International, Drama
In Theaters
Dec 22, 2006 Limited
On DVD
May 8, 2007
Strand Releasing

Critic Reviews

  • Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

    The claustrophobic and artificial atmosphere of the setting is unfortunately matched by the equally artificial drama.

  • Lael Loewenstein, Los Angeles Times

    There may be no young actress today better at embodying a blend of wounded innocence and stoic pride than Sarah Polley. In The Secret Life of Words, she has a part worthy of her gifts.

  • Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

    Though I continue to have strong reservations about the stylistic abstractions in Ms. Coixet's narrative, the performances given by Ms. Polley, Mr. Robbins and Ms. Christie take me a long way in accepting and recommending the whole package.

  • Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic

    Like Ceylan -- like many a fine director -- Coixet has made her film less as a drama than as the traversal of a state of mind, a mood.

  • Ella Taylor, Village Voice

    In due course skeletons will march out of closets, but the movie yields up its secrets with slow reluctance.

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • jay n


    A worthwhile film but that doesn't mean that it's an enjoyable movie viewing experience.

  • Leigh R


    Not being much of a fan of Polley, this movie breaks all the rules. Wonderful story and fabulous acting (especially Polley). The way it slowly tells the stories of both Hanna and Josef and their journey together just mixes so well. FABULOUS!

  • Jens S


    This very calm, quiet drama tells the story of a young laconic woman working at a factory without having much of a life, being forced to take some time off for vacation where she happens to overhear an oil platform being in need of a nurse. Instead of relaxing she takes care of a burn… More

  • Curtis L


    Tim Robbins had great dialog in this film (until the ending). A burn victim on an oil rig in the ocean, who falls in love with his war-refugee nurse Sarah Polley who shows him her cut up boobs. Turned out to be pretty great.

  • Craig S


    <b><u>Directed by:</u> Isabel Coixet.</b> <b><u>Starring:</u> Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins.</b> I had heard prier to watching this film that the audience is split down the middle, some who say is intellectual, complex and very powerful and… More

Read all 8 featured audience ratings

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